Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	believe_v	faith_n	see_v	3,520	5	4.1982	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91475	Good tydings for sinners, great ioy for saints; or, A word to the world, and two to those that are chosen out of the world. Wherein is held forth, first, the sweet tenders of grace from the father through the son to all dejected sinners; he invites them, he woes them, he intreats them, nay, he beseecheth them to accept of mercy. In the second part of this book, called, Two words to those chosen out of the world, is spoken to the saints under their severall forms, taking notice first of the things commendable in them: and in the second place reproving them for things amisse among them. With a short prophesie of the downfall of presbyterie, independencie, anabaptismie, vaine notions, free-will. With a brief description of a true church-state, against which the gates of Hell shall not prevaile; it being founded upon a rock, it will stand against all waves and storms, that either men or devils can raise against it. I will give you all one heart, and one way. Then the Lord shall be one, and his name one. / Robert Purnell.	Purnell, Robert, d. 1666.; Parnell, Robert, attributed name.	1649 (1649)	Wing P542; Wing P4234; Thomason E557_12; ESTC R27528	60,728	77

formes neither Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Free-willers nor those up-start men of vanitie and emptie notions last mentioned I say They walk not nor keep company with any of these but a distance And these are of two sorts The first is a precious sweet moderate sort of men and women looking after and enquiring into the power and glory of truth and godlinesse more than the forme They clearly see all those to whom I have spoken before to be in extreams either towards the right hand or towards the left and for the most part knowing Christ after the flesh yet this sort not under forms look on those that are under forms for many of them to be as indeed they are members of the same bodie whereof Christ is the head These men desire to know no man after the flesh they love not any man because he is a Presbyterian neither do they hate another because he is an Independent They desire to have their moderation known unto all men seeing the Lord is at hand As these mens hearts are tender to all so their Purses are open to all They desire to be good more than to be thought of others to be so and esteem the power of godlinesse more than the form But secondly there are another company and these are the greatest part that are under none of the aforesaid forms who look upon all the rest and count it strange that they run not with them to the same excesse of ryot speaking evill of them all The greatest piece of these mens Religon is to watch for the haltings of the rest These men and women spend their time for the most part in gaming drinking back-biting railing at all others that will not doe as they doe These will not joyn themselves with the Presbyterians because they will not love them They will not come among the Independents because there they shall meet with reproof they esteem their liberty more than their Religion therefore they keep company with those where they may have their liberty A few Words by way of Prophesie of the downfall of Presbyterie Independence Anabaptisme Antinominisme Free-Willers Vain-Notionists and all other Sects now extant in England A word in generall to all the Saints who are under any of the aforesaid Forms OH all you servants of the most high and mighty God heires of Promise and Sons of Sion look for great alterations and mighty changes see what desolations God will make in the earth and looke for nothing but the Lord to be revealed from Heaven which will be mighty in his dispensation and exceeding glorious in revelation strong and powerfull in operation He will bring to passe his determination that is he will destroy in this Mountaine the face of this covering cast over all people and the vaile that is spread over all Nations Isa 25.7 If you aske what this vaile is that shall be taken away I answer There are many vailes whereof this is one thy knowing of Christ and Christians after the flesh As soone as ever the Lord tooke this vaile of our deare brother Pauls eyes see what a change it wrought immediately upon him 2 Cor. 5.16 Henceforth know Ino man after the flesh yea though I have knowne Christ after the flesh yet henceforth know I him so no more Our looking upon men and loving them because they are under this or that forme is a knowing them after the flesh Presbyterians looke upon others of the same judgement worshiping God in the same forme and therefore love them But let these speake never so little against their forme and presently they cast them out of their affections and also the Independents they know men after the flesh much after the same manner And likewise the Anabaptists and Free-willers they are vailed with the same vaile And therefore what I say to one Sect I say to you all you shall speedily receive a totall rout You have gathered your selves together but you shall be seattered yea you shall be broken in peices Lo here is Christ the Presbyterian saith in the publique ordinances therefore highly esteeme the publique preaching and frequent the publique assemblies Then comes in the Independent and taking a strict view of the Presbyteriall Way sees many disorders amongst them and so seperates himselfe from them and joynes himselfe to those o● his owne judgement and so meet in private saying in effect Lo here is Christ Lo here is Christ Then stands up the Anabaptist in opposition to both and saith Christ is not with you in publique nor with the Independent in private But Christ is with us in the baptisme of John Lo lo here is Christ Then comes in he that holds generall redemption and free-will and saith Christ is among none of you all for you doe eclipse his free-grace and limit his unlimited mercie for he dyed for all but you say it was but for some 2. The Gospel is to be preached to all but yon say though he preached it to all yet he intended it only to some 3. Whereas we hold that all should beleeve the remission of their sins you say none can beleeve but a few that are elected But we hold that as in the first Adam all dyed so in the second Adam all are made alive So that if any perish let him thanke himselfe for upon his obedience or disobedience depends his weale or woe and so God doth neither elect one nor reprobate another before he hath done good or evill Lo here is Christ here is Christ say the Free-willers And so all other Sects Lo here is Christ saith one Lo there is Christ saith another wherefore if they shall say unto you Behold he is in the Desart Goe not forth Behold he is in the secret Chambers Beleeve it not You all have built your outward house of externall discipline upon the sand and it must fall because it is not grounded upon the rock Christ you have made your communion the ground of your union and that must fall because it is not the Lords but mans building Quest But how doe you know that Presbytery must downe and Independency Anabaptisme and the rest of the Sects must downe Answ I answer Christ told the Jewes John 8.56 that Abraham saw his day and was glade Now if Abraham by faith did see the day of Christ comming in the flesh many yeares before he came why may not I and others see the day of christ comming in the Spirit to destroy all fleshly formes some few yeares before it be finished But if thou askest How shall I know that thou prophesiest true concerning the downfall of all these I answer thee in this case as the Lord himselfe answered his people in another case Deut. 18.21.22 If thou shalt say in thine heart How shall we know the word that the Lord hath spoken from the word that he hath not spoken The Lord there answereth When a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thing come to passe it is

Good Tydings for SINNERS Great Ioy for SAINTS OR A Word to the World and two to those that are chosen out of the WORLD Wherein is held forth First the sweet tenders of grace from the Father through the Son to all dejected Sinners he Invites them he Woes them he Intreats them nay he beseecheth them to accept of mercy IN The second part of this Book called Two words to those chosen out of the World is spoken to the Saints under their severall Forms taking notice first of the things commendable in them and in the second place reproving them for things amisse among them With a short Prophesie of the downfall of Presbyterie Independencie Anabaptismie Vaine Notions Free-Will With a brief description of a true Church-state against which the gates of Hell shall not prevaile it being founded upon a rock it will stand against all Waves and Storms that either Men or Devils can raise against it I will give you all one heart and one way Then the Lord shall be one and his name one Robert Purnell Printed at London for Giles Calvers and are to bee sold at the Black-spread Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1649. To the Reader COurteous Reader I shall in few words give thee a just accompt why I have written this little Book In these latter daies many books are published some good and wholesome but few to ends not carnal for with every man is imperfection more or lesse I must own it also Yet I faithfully professe that had my own credit or advantage been my inducement hereunto these thoughts had been buried in the wombe because I know I could reap no such fruit or if I did it were but vanitie He that gave me my being hath given me a command to learn of him not onely to love his people but also to love his enemies Matth. 5.44 God having kindled in me a love to you both Saints and Sinners I have here written a word to the one and two words to the other Rom. 1.14 I am debtor to the Greek and to the Barbarian both to the wise and to the unwise And to thee fellow sinner is the first word because I see many of those that undertake to teach thee shutting the door of the kingdom against thee and instead of the Gospel of Christ they preach to thee Moses at least Elias and that in the letter The things I lay before thee and commend unto thee are such and onely such as I my self have past through and found aboundance of comfort in And looking upon that place 2 Corinth 1.4 I finde it my duty to endeavour to comfort others with the same comfort wherewith I my selfe have been comforted of God Expect not heare a pleasing methode sugard words nor scholasticall expressions for that savours more of the wisdome of man than of God Though it be not scholastick yet if thou findest it authentick let it have acceptance with thee First read and then judge of what I have said and the Lord that hath power give thee understanding in all things In the first part of this ●o●k called A Word to the World is held forth in few words the sweet tenders of grace from the Father through the sonne to the poore dejected Sinners wherein God 〈…〉 woes and entreates them to be reconciled to himselfe He ●●swers all the Objections that lye in the way he useth very strong and powerfull arguments He not onely saith but swears he delights not in the death of a sinner Ezek. 33.11 In the second part of this Book called Two Words to those chosen out of the World I my self having had communion with the Sain●s in each of those forms more or lesse their principles and practises I have in some measure weighed examined and tryed with an unbyassed affection And I finde among all these except those in this book excepted many excellent sweet and sound truths both in Doctrine and Discipline Principle and Practise worthy not onely of commendation but also of our imitation But notwithstanding there are many things that savour more of the flesh than of the spirit among all these Assemblies which are rather of mans invention than of Gods institution as their knowing Christ and Saints after the flesh crying Lo here lo there is Christ and most in a sence building upon the Sand. Wherefore I have here Prophesied of their fall in which I mean not that they shall be without Church-order but they shall have Pastors and Teachers Elders and Deacons Helps and Governments But the ground of this communion shall be spirituall union and when this day is dawned and this day-star risen in our hearts Ephraim shall not envy Judah nor Judah vex Ephraim Presbyterians shall not so bitterly cry out against Independents nor Independents have such hard thoughts of the Presbyterians Yea they will be ashamed to own one another by these fleshly titles but look upon and love one another as Christians members of the same body heires of the same Promise children of the same father having all the same spirit all clothed with the same robe inclined to the same work ruled by the same Word and Spirit And so their love to each other shall arise from the Vnion in the Spirit And against this Church-State the gates of hell shall not prevaile A WORD TO THE VVORLD THat Sin had its first entrance into the World by Adam we all know What sin is in it own nature most of us doe know But that sin is clearly taken away by the second Adam Christ Jesus that very few doe know Poore sinner why dost thou lye groaning come along with me and hear Christ thy Lord speaking to thee Quest What is that that doth so trouble thee Answ Oh! my sins my sin Quest What is sin Answ The breach of a command or the transgression of a law Chr. Though thou hast broken this law yet consider that there is one to be found that hath kept it first in thy nature secondly for thee and imputes the keeping of it to thee as really as if thou hadst fulfilled it thy selfe Art thou a sinner Christ saith He came to call sinners and why not thee Sinner Oh but I am one of the greatest of sinners Chr. Yet consider what the Lord saith in these Scriptures Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World 3. Joh. 16. God so loved the World that he sent his onely begotten Son to take away the sins of the world 1 Tim. 1.15 He came into the world to sinners of whom I am chief Object Oh but though he came to save sinners it is a question whether he died for all sinners and therefore I question whether he came to call me or to take away my sins I see no ground why I should believe nay I cannot believe Faith is too high a thing for me to attain unto Answ But consider God is the alone worker of it Heb. 12.2 And when thou lookest upon Faith

and seest it too hard a thing for thee yet consider that nothing is too hard for God who hath undertaken to work it Ob. It I could see a promise wherein God had promised to work it that were something Quest What art thou A Jew or a Gentile Scythian or Barbarian Ans I am a Gentile a sinner Chr. Thou these are promises for thee see Matt. 12.21 Rom. 15.12 In him shall the Gentiles trust in him shall the Gentiles trust Sin But all Gentiles doe not neither shall they believe therefore if I could see my name written in Scripture and a promise made to me in reference to that name then there were hope indeed Chr. Thou art just like Thomas Joh. 20.25 Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nailes and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe Well saith Christ thou shalt see the print of the nailes reach hither thine hand c. Wilt thou see thy name inscripture indeed Sin Yea with all my heart But I fear it is not there Chr. Why dost thou doubt all things are possible to him that believes wilt thou see thy name Then what is thy state How is it with thee Sin My state is miserable I am full of blindenes and ignorance and can understand nothing in a spirituall way Chr. Here is thy name then recorded Isa 50.10 Who so walketh in darknes and seeth no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon God Sin But I am dead almost my heart and my flesh do faile me Chr. Why canst thou read the beginning of the verse with David and not the latter end of it and God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psal 7● 26 Sin But I am weak faith another poore soule where is my name Chr. The weak shall be as David there is thy name Sin But saith another distressed soule I am quite dead where is my name Chr. Ephes 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light There is thy name Sin But I have not ears to hear Christ voice nor strength to arise if I could hear Chr. But Christ can give strength with his voice as to Lazarus come forth and he came forth Sin Here is comfort for these indeed But oh that you could shew me my name in scripture and God speaking to me by name Then I should believe and rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Chr. Well What is thy name Sin Rebell That is my name for I have rebelled against the Lord ever since I was born I have lived in a continuall breach of every command Chr. Yet behold thy name Psal 68.18 Christ hath received gifts for men yea for the rebellious that the Lord God might dwell among them Read thy name in every promise endeavour to see thy name enrolled in the book of Life where all the Devils in Hell and all the wicked men in the world can never blot it out Sin Oh! saith another poore distressed soule I have no minde nor heart to seek after God Where is my name Chr. Isa 65.1 I am found of them that sought me not There is thy name though thou wilt not seek for him yet he will seek and finde thee Sin But I cannot believe Where is my name saith another Chr. 2 Tim. 2 13. If we believe not yet he abideth faithfull he cannot deny himself Sin But I have called and cryed for mercy and that often yet God would not answer me Where is my name 2. Saith another others have prayed for me and the Lord gave them an answer he was not sent to save me Where is my name 3. A third poore soul steps in and saith I spake with the Lord as it were and he told me I was a Dog and that Dogs have nothing to doe with Childrens bread oh where is my name Chr. Will you see all your three names together Sin Oh that it might be so faith the troubled soule Chr. Then read and well consider that 15. Matt. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28. And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts and cryed unto him saying have mercy on me O Lord thou son of David But he answered her not a word There was the first step of his deniall Secondly His Disciples came and besought him saying send her away for she cryeth after us But he answered and said I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house Israel There is the second branch of his deniall Thirdly Then came shee and worshipped him saying Lord help me But he answered and said it is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to dogs There is the third branch of his deniall And she said truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their Masters table Then Jesus answered and said unto her ô woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt Oh the unsearchable love of a tender father to a prodigall Son To summe up all in a word Search diligently in what state thou standest examine well thy present condition what it is and when thou hast found out the true temper of thy soul that thou canst truly say thus and thus it is with me Then search the Scriptures for they were written for thy learning and thou shalt finde upon serious consideration that some one or other of the Saints gone before the hath been in the same condition and yet hath found mercy Then thou wilt break forth with Paul and say There is no tentation hath befaln me but such as is common to all men and the Lord will deliver mee 1 Cor. 10 13. c. Are thy sins so many that thou canst not look up so it was with that pretious saint David Psal 40.12 Psal 38.4 Deare friend who ever thou art that readest these words let me tell thee I speak by experience I have been in so sad a condition even as it were in despaire And when I have read or heard these words that such and such of the Lords own children were in the same condition my heart hath begun to revive and say well The Lord hath dealt no otherwise with me than he hath with such a Saint left upon record now I see I am not alone in this heavines I cannot now say Was ever sorrow like unto my sorrow Lam. 1.12 But I can now say with Ieremiah Lam. 3 32. Though he cause griefe yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies I remember that sweet place of Scripture 2 Cor. 1 3 4. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulations that saith he we may be able to comfort them that be in trouble by the comfort wherewith wee our selves are comforted of God Here by the way wee may take notice that it is